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Ends With a Mystery
Ends With a Mystery is a short story written by OonieCacola. It is about a two heroes on a mission to investigate and capture a monster. Story Going into this mission, I’m not quite sure what to expect. My buddy David Orre and I are on our way to this storage facility. There was a distress call from the workers about some giant prehistoric beast breaking in and wrecking the place. Apparently this was also the site of some battle between a few heroes and some sword-wielding space pirates. We were told to contain and restrain the beast if possible, secure the workers if any were still around, and make sure the place wasn’t completely destroyed if things went bad. If you ask me, the commissioners made it pretty clear we weren’t the best choice for this mission. Unsettled, that’s how I felt as I led the way into the facility, which, in fact, was pitch black and completely silent. There was no frightening roaring or screams of terror, not even a call for help when we entered the storage reception room. Instead we found four downed workers, and none were still functioning. We checked for any signs of life, but nothing came up. The place was wrecked pretty bad, but not as bad as I thought. The most notable damage was a gaping hole near the edge of the room that led straight down to the lower level. One thing that I found odd was that there was a surplus of capture equipment strewn about. All broken, yet it seemed like someone had led something in instead of it barging in alone. One thing was for sure, there was definitely a beast of sorts around. “Main warehouse is underneath, no help in mourning for these guys when there’s a rampant beast around Prazz” said Orre. Judging by the still silent surrounding area, one could almost say otherwise. I took one last glance at the fallen workers before moving on. I nearly tripped over my own foot because I could swear I’d just seen one of the workers move. I finally came to the conclusion I had indeed been staring for too long and turned away. My partner was already at the back door leading to the elevator down. “Think there’s still power?” I asked. Orre just shrugged, and tried the button. The doors open and the elevator works like nothing had ever happened, taking us straight down with no problem. In the warehouse there were no lights on, just the fading daylight falling from the hole above. The both of us had our gear ready to go, and I had a tranquilizer at the ready. I scouted the first row of storage compartments, hoping there wasn’t a massive fantasy demon waiting for me. Nothing. “Nothing behind door-row number two, you?” Orre shouted. “Shush, we don’t know what we’re dealing with, man. Keep it down. We could get lucky and whatever-it-is is sleeping” I responded in a much more cautious tone. I looked down as something caught my eye. It was a trail of metal scraps, odds and ends, which led to a group of storage units that were badly damaged. After calling Orre over we had our weapons drawn and together we slowly advanced towards the open units. I couldn’t control my thoughts as images of the worst case scenario flashed before me each second that passed. We reached the inside of the units after what seemed like forever. The first thing we noticed was that most of the contents of the storage units were scientific and mechanical objects, all of which were really odd. At the back of the mess was a giant pile of wreckage, consisting of rubble from above, items from the unit, and other objects from the storage facility from what I could tell. “Want to bet our monster’s in there?” Orre gave a funny smirk. In the heat of the moment I hadn’t noticed a pile of random equipment, which I consequently knocked over, shattering the silence of the building. I knew it was coming, the part where the monster rises and rears its ugly head. That was exactly what happened here. The odd thing was that nothing fell off. All the junk and scraps stuck to whatever this prehistoric beast was and it stood up like part of a landfill. More growling and we could see the beast more clearly now. It was, for the most part, a t-rex that had some odd ability to grow with whatever attached to it. My partner and I exchange looks of doubt as we began to realize so. We were so not the one’s best suited for this. I was the first to act, as I fired a tranquilizer dart straight at the beast, hitting it point blank in the head. It had no effect whatsoever, but I did gain a little confidence in myself. Orre dove out of the way as the big dinosaur swung its tail for us. I rolled to the side for another shot, but missed this time. Orre took the opportunity to get in close and attack the legs in hopes of downing the beast that way. A few quick hits and the t-rex began to topple. He ran out from under as the beast fell. Unfortunately it wasn’t that easy. The beast managed to get up again and we went through the same process another three times before I finally said “ok, I have another plan, here, you take the shot!” I ran and tossed the tranquilizer to Orre and then hit the floor as the beast swung its tail again, now rampaging through more storage units. Getting back up, I went straight for the beast’s head and hitched on for a joy ride. I was sure to avoid the teeth, but the chunks of rubble on the back of its head were just as bad. Here goes nothing. I swing down with a punch to the beast’s dome, successfully giving it a nasty headache. It then wobbles side to side aimlessly, forcing me to ride it around like a mechanical bull. Orre fires multiple tranquilizer darts, hitting the dinosaur in a whole bunch of places: legs, arms, head, he almost hit me I think. Then slowly but surely, the beast falls for good. ---- “Got anything else we can use to make sure it’s out?” I asked. “I got something better” Orre says as he pulled out a small pod and places it on the beast. A burst of energy, and the beast was now imprisoned in a glowing cage. “Now we can call the factory and get this thing out of here safely.” We were on our way to the elevator when we heard one of the machines from the storage go off with an annoying signal, followed by what was definitely a voice. “Well…thanks for the help…Don’t trip on your way out….” We both turned to see the whirring contraption, which was now throwing out sparks, but no clues as to where the voice came from. Whatever it was, I knew it wasn’t good. Orre said “Whatever that is, I don’t think it’s about to explode with fireworks.” “But what about the beast?” “Dude, we have to go!” I looked back at the now helpless monster, feeling a bit of resent in what we were about to do. With a swift grappling hook back to the upper floor, we dashed out of the storage facility faster than we ever thought possible. Now safely back at our ship, we watched as now the sparks now seemed to be erupting from the building itself. Then, in a matter of seconds, the place was engulfed in an orb of blinding light, and just like that it was all gone. All that remained was the floor of the storage units and the collapsed upper level. ---- So, bottom line, the mission ended as a failure. My partner and I failed each of the guidelines, and we are due for extra training later this week. There is quite a mystery though. The reasoning for the beast being there, the device that ‘teleported’ the area, and our reported mystery suspect, although we have our hunches it’s all yet to be solved. There is one thing that haunts me though. On my record-breaking speed run out of the place I remembered the four workers we confirmed were deceased from before. When we left I recall only seeing three. Characters *Prazz *David Orre Trivia *This is OonieCacola's entry for the New Years 2013 Fanfiction contest *The reference to fireworks and a glowing orb of light were nods to a New Year's celebration *characters Prazz and David Orre were chosen last minute *The original title was going to be Ends With a Bang See Also *Second Chance *Mission: The Ice Planet